CALLS for an overhaul of the way the justice system handles sudden infant deaths came from MPs and campaigners yesterday after the release of Sally Clark, the solicitor wrongly jailed for murdering her babies.

As one MP described the case as “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice of our times”, there was concern that 15 other mothers may have been wrongfully convicted.

Angela Cannings, 38, who was jailed for life “with regret” by a judge for smothering her two baby sons, is among those awaiting an appeal against her conviction for killing seven-week-old Jason in 1991 and 18-week-old Matthew in 1999.

Mrs Justice Hallett, one of the three appeal judges who freed Mrs Clark at the High Court because her conviction was unsafe, sent Cannings to prison after a jury at Winchester Crown Court last year found her guilty of murder.

But, in an unprecedented expression of sympathy, she told Cannings: “As you know, I have no alternative but to impose sentences of life imprisonment on you . . . this in my judgment is a classic kind of injustice that can be caused by mandatory sentencing.

“All the evidence indicates you wanted these babies and you cherished both of them.”

Cannings’s husband, Terry, said the case of Mrs Clark, a fellow prisoner of his wife at Bullwood Hall in Essex, had “moved the goalposts” in his campaign to prove her innocence. Mr Cannings, 48, who claims that their children died from cot death syndrome, said: “I am delighted for Sally and encouraged. I have been putting the cases together.”

Mrs Clark was freed after her conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday because the Crown pathologist withheld crucial evidence. Dr Alan Williams, whose conduct in the case was called into question by the Court of Appeal, was not at his Cheshire home yesterday and made no statement. But the General Medical Council confirmed that it was “aware” of the case, an indication that he could face proceedings, although they are likely to await any criminal prosecution.

The Crown Prosecution Service said that if and when it received a file from the police, it would decide if there was a case to prosecute Dr Williams.

He failed to reveal evidence which showed that one of Mrs Clark’s babies could have died from natural causes. Two years ago the trial of a dentist and anaesthetist accused of killing a five-year-old girl collapsed when he admitted that he had made an error in not realising the significance of a heart abnormality the child had suffered since birth.

He was also involved in another case of a woman accused of murdering her baby. Three years ago a judge at Chester Crown Court ordered a jury to acquit the woman after criticism that Dr Williams had changed his evidence.

John Batt, a solicitor who has led the campaign for Mrs Clark’s release, said of similar cases from Glasgow, Hastings, Nottinghamshire, Worcester, Hull and Cardiff as well as Winchester: “In each case there was no previous history of abuse and all the friends and relatives say they were loving parents. Second, they all involved the same small group of child abuse experts giving evidence against them.”

Sir Roy Meadow, a professor found to have given unreliable evidence at the trial of Mrs Clark, appeared as an expert witness in the trials of at least five other mothers, including Cannings and Donna Anthony, who are to seek leave to appeal.

At the trial of Anthony, who is serving life in Durham Prison for smothering her two babies in 1998, Sir Roy said that two natural cot-deaths in one family was a one in a million chance. Other experts claim it to be as low as one in 8,500.

In the Commons, George Osborne, Conservative MP for Tatton, called Mrs Clark’s case “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in recent times”. He was backed by Robert Key, the Conservative MP for Salisbury, who said that similar miscarriages of justice would happen as long as juries were “allowed to convict on the controversial opinions and theories of medical experts”.

Robin Cook, the Leader of the House, agreed that Mrs Clark’s ordeal was appalling, but said it would be a mistake to think there had been widespread miscarriages of justice.

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